Oysters

This has officially been the best Christmas I've had since I reached the double-digits! By far, my favorite gift was one my clever boyfriend thought of and is something that can be gifted any time of the year...

An oyster!! And I actually got three of them. Why am I sooooooooo excited? Because inside each oyster was a beautiful pearl! This gift is great because it turns into an entire experience for everyone involved.

He ordered them from the website orientalpearls.net and they came in a can.



You open the can, then rinse off the oyster, then (not over a sink for safety reasons!) open the oyster and remove the pearl.












I've always wanted a pearl ring, so I'm hoping to find a ring setting that holds three pearls. These particular ones are around 4-5mm, so they'd be perfect in a ring cluster! If not, I've found some feat double pearl settings and then I can do a necklace. Im also playing with the idea of making my own setting since I've never really dove into jewelry making... Though that could be slightly dangerous... Oh well, either way, I'm still SO excited!! =)

Craig Mitchell Smith

Has Christmas snuck up wayyyy too fast for anyone else this year? I can't believe it's already Christmas Eve! I suppose it'd be lovely to post a festive project that I've done, but instead I want to promote a local glass artist who is extremely talented and passionate. His name is Craig Mitchell Smith and he has a gorgeous gallery in the Meridian Mall in Okemos. Imagine how happy I was to be strolling through the mall and stumble across an art gallery!! It was amazing.

The reason I'm choosing to talk about this particular artist today is because he created an ornament for the national Christmas tree this year! It's a beautiful red cardinal set in a snowflake. So pretty!



Not only is Craig Mitchell Smith an amazing artist, but he's also a huge supporter of other local artists. So much so that in the back of his gallery, he has eight mini-galleries, each dedicated to a different artist from the area. But what I love most about his gallery is that he has a workshop out in the open for everyone to see. Being able to view the artist at work brings a whole new appreciation for art, and it seems like he's always there to talk to people about his art. Each piece has a story, and you can't help but get wrapped up in Craig's enthusiasm.

Here are few more pieces of his, and I highly encourage everyone to peruse the gallery. His work truly is beautiful!




"Leaping Lena"




"Tuesday's Child"




"Jellyfish Dreams in Blue"

Hanging Lamp

After a frustrating morning battling a portable drive (how is it that by following the step-by-step prompts, my drive is no longer recognizable by either Mac or PC??), I've decided to calm down by blogging! The portable drive stuff will be resolved, so I may as well just let it go.

One of the things I am excited about right now is that in a few weeks I'll be starting my internship at a local design firm! While pulling together my portfolio, I realized how many projects I have around the house and figured it'd be cool to share them with people, and maybe give out a little inspiration! This will kind of be an ongoing series of functional and oh-so-easy art.

We'll start with a hanging lamp I made...


Materials:
- 3/8" dowel rods
- hot glue (of course...)
- ribbon
- acrylic paint
- hanging light cord from IKEA
- light bulb

This was originally a project for my 3D design class. The goal was to create a cube within a sphere with as much open space as possible. Or something like that. (It was awhile ago.) After completing the project, I realized that it was really cool looking, and didn't want to set aside collecting dust or going in the trash. So, I painted the dowels blue, strung brown ribbon to emphasize the cube, attached it to the hanging light, and voila! It's currently hanging next to my bed and it casts the most amazing shadows while providing the perfect amount of light to read by.



I'm thinking about creating more of these lamps and possibly selling them? But, that would require time that I am incredibly short on! It wasn't too in depth of a project, so creating more is definitely feasible. Any thoughts?


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad. Because it's awesome.

The start...

I can't even tell you how many times I've started a blog. Recently, I found and cancelled one from over 7 years ago! It had maybe three posts. So now I'm starting a blog about something I actually care about - CREATIVITY! Art, music, inspirations, songwriting, exhibits, artists, etc. Basically, this blog is to organize all of the random creative tidbits I stumble across or think up at random, typically inconvenient, times. Let's get starters, shall we?

I was working on a painting for my uncles today and started thinking that I really should work more often with other mediums of art. My all time favorite material to work with is hot glue. That stuff is amazing! The texture, delicate appearance, and fast drying time is perfect for me. I'm rather impatient with things drying. That's why I use acrylics.

After thinking about it some more, I decided that I want to create a web-like design with hot glue and string. And also another project (perhaps with a picture frame and glass?) that uses hot glue to simulate dripping raid on a pane of glass. I like it.

It hit me that other artists have had to have had these ideas as well, so I googled "hot glue art" and came across an EXTrAORDiARY artist. Her name is Esma Pacal Turam and her work is magnificent. She made a chandelier out of hot glue! Stunning. Here are some shots of her amazing work with hot glue:




"Neighbours' Lamp"



"Neighbours' Laundry"

So cool, eh? I'm not sure my work will be nearly as elaborate as her's, but it'll be fun to play with! Whenever I get around to this project (after the new year, I'm sure) I'll post the results. After all, that's why I created the blog!

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